Changes

Today the god Mithra or Mithras is not recognized by many in the West. In fact, for people who have heard of this god, he is often seen as just another of the many gods that was once worshiped in Europe, the Near East, and South Asia. However, in the early centuries of Christianity, one can argue the worship of Mithras rivaled the Christian religion and if Christianity failed to plant itself, then it may have been possible for the worship of this god to have become more significant in later religious history for Asia and Europe. The importance of this god in perhaps bringing influences that also get adopted in later religions may also be evident.

Mithraic belief likely borrowed or was incorporated within Zoroastrianism, which believed in a cosmic struggle of evil vs. good. Mithra could be involved in the final struggle against evil, where good ultimately wins, but this is not clear. The god was seen as being born or December 25th, where he emerges out of a rock, although several other gods, particularly those associated as sun gods, held that date of birth. <ref>For more on Christian and Mithraism connections, see: Hensen, A. (2013). Mithras: der Mysterienkult an Limes, Rhein und Donau. Stuttgart: Theiss.</ref> This date does likely influence later Christian adoptions as December 25th for the birth of Christ. The god Mithra may have also been born of a virgin birth and the importance of communal meals, similar to early Christianity, are some aspects the religions share. The religious order also seems to have a type of hierarchy of power, with local priests and something akin to Bishops and chief leaders within the cult developed as part of the religious order that one can climb. Worship and belief also seems to be related to water, where believers may have been baptized into the order. Nevertheless, aspects of Mithra worshiped within the Roman Empire also borrowed from other Greco-Roman gods, indicating that some adaptation of the original ideas of Mithra had occurred after it was adopted from the original Indo-Persian god.<ref>For more on how Mithra is combined and integrated with Roman gods, see: Christensen, L. B., Hammer, O., & Warburton, D. (Eds.). (2013). The handbook of religions in ancient Europe / edited by Lisbeth Bredholt Christensen, Olav Hammer and David A. Warburton. Durham ; Bristol, CT: Acumen Pub Ltd, pg. 258.</ref>

==Extent of Mithra Worship==

Although Mithra was worshiped in regions as far as India and Scotland, the extent of how widely spread within populations and how much of a true rival the religion was to other emerging religions like Christianity is not agreed upon by scholars. There are hundreds of Mithra temples, such as that shown in Figure 2, scattered throughout the Roman Empire, with perhaps the chief Roman temple in Rome itself; sometimes existing temples to various gods also had Mithraea underneath them.<ref> For more on where Mithra was worshiped, see: Grant, J., Gorin, S., & Fleming, N. (2008). The archaeology coursebook: an introduction to themes, sites, methods and skills (3rd ed). London ; New York: Routledge, pg. 179. </ref> It seems to have been a religion that was brought to the Roman Empire by Roman soldiers stationed in the eastern part of the empire, who became influenced by the worship of this god in the Parthian and later Sassanian empires and in the Near East in general as the soldiers encountered the local population. The god was also very popular in Indian and Iran, while Mithra was likely combined with earlier sun gods in the Near East, including Shamash and Ba'al.

However, it is likely that the Mithra in the Roman Empire was understood differently that that of Persia and Iran, although many similarities remained.<ref>For more on how Mithra was adopted across the Roman Empire, see: Beck, R. (2007). The religion of the Mithras cult in the Roman Empire: mysteries of the unconquered sun (1. publ. in paperback). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.</ref> Thus, scholars do debate how unified the belief was of Mithra and the adoption of the god could have been as such that local customs in different places adapted the religion to their own concepts, mainly incorporating the god with other gods or syncretizing religious ideas. Although in any one place the number of worshipers may have been low, the vast extent of the worship of the god does make Mithra perhaps the most widespread god until the rise of Christianity and its subsequent proselytizing faith. The wide extent of the worship of this god may explain why some ideas were adopted by Christianity. However, more likely the animosity toward this cult reflects that it may have been seen as a threat to the early Christian faith in the first few centuries after Christ. This could explain why some ideas of Mithra could have been adopted by Christians, so that some keeping some aspects of the faith may have been more attractive to some worshipers in joining Christianity; however, the subsequent suppression of the Mithra cults likely reflects it was mostly seen as a threat.

==Decline of Mithra==

[[Category:Wikis]]

{{Contributors}}